Why Rose-Gold Hair Is Our New Favorite Thing

It all started with Sienna Miller. I couldn't get her rose-gold hair out of my head. That barely there peachy-pink shade was just so pretty. I've been growing my hair out, and while I love the tiny bob it's become, it's definitely lost the quirkiness that's inherent in an asymmetrical pixie like the one I had for a few years. Plus, my natural post-blonde color was starting to feel dull. Once my eyeballs landed on Miller's rosy-gold locks, I knew that hue was what was missing from my head.

Serendipitously, that same week, Aveda emailed me about their new spring color line, Culture Clash. The line features amazing vivid colors inspired by the hair models themselves — one of which happens to be a pastel blue, which they generously offered to dye my hair with. Don't get me wrong, I love a good blue bob, but my pale complexion and suburban roots means it's really easy for me to look like a mall goth.

Luckily, one of the special things about Aveda's color collection is that it's completely customizable. The range of tones and hues they offer is so vast that any hair dream can be realized. Even my request for "gold hair that looks rosy when it catches the light" was, apparently, attainable.

So, one snowy evening, I headed on down to the Aveda Academy, where Global Artistic Director Ian Michael Black spent the next three and a half hours meticulously foiling my hair. Admittedly, I was nervous. I have some not-great memories of misguided adventures with box color in my college-dorm bathroom. Obviously, this was a very different experience: Aveda's hair dyes are made with 96% naturally derived color. They replace the harsh chemicals found in standard permanent hair color with natural ingredients. For example, instead of silicone, they use essential oils. So the whole thing smelled really nice and didn't irritate my scalp like I had expected.

Black used three different colors: a very light, creamy blonde; a softer blonde; and rosy pink. He also left in a lot of my natural color, so it actually involved four different hues to create a multi-dimensional rose-gold glow. As for the result? Read on...

Is it too much to say that I am obsessed with this hair? It's everything I've ever wanted. It's a little bit more frosty than I anticipated, but I'm loving it. It's so perfect for the months between winter and spring, when you want to start incorporating bright colors, but it's still freezing outside.

I'm also surprised at how flattering pink is, as a hair color. I feel like it warms up my whole face — bringing out the pink tones in my complexion but not in a blotchy way.

Interestingly, it took almost a week for most of my colleagues to notice I was newly pink-haired. Someone even asked me if I've always had pink hair (I never saw that one coming!). Our editorial Vice President Susan Kaplow summed it up perfectly, saying, "It's the kind of pink hair that your mom would approve of." (Note: My mom approves.)

The only challenge so far has been figuring out what makeup works with rosy locks. In this photo, I'm wearing Fresh's Sugar Berry Lip Treatment, which is a universally flattering, safe choice. Since then, I've been playing around with deep shades of red, blue-based oranges, and hot pink. To my pleasant surprise, I've yet to try a color that doesn't match.

Backstage at Fashion Week, I noticed a lot of other women rocking rosy-hued strands. It appears the rose-gold hair is definitely becoming a thing — and, in my opinion, the world is easier on the eyes because of it.